Jeb Bush did not hold back against opponents of Common Core in a speech in Boston this morning, saying “criticisms and conspiracy theories are easy attention grabbers.”

Speaking at the Excellence in Education’s 2013 National Summit on Education Reform he said: To compete with the rest of the world in the 21st Century, we must produce competitive high school graduates ready for college or meaningful careers. That means we have to raise the bar to make sure the skills they are learning are aligned with what employers and college presidents expect high school graduates to know. These skills include critical thinking, problem solving and verifying work. The Common Core State Standards were designed based on these skills.

I understand there are those opposed to the standards. But what I want to hear from them is more than just opposition. I want to hear their solutions for the hodgepodge of dumbed-down state standards that have created group mediocrity in our schools. Criticisms and conspiracy theories are easy attention grabbers. Solutions are hard work. Be a problem solver.

And be decisive and resolute. How do we delay a parent’s right to send her child to a better school? How do we delay efforts that better ensure children in first grade will be able to read by third grade? Delay is a strategy designed for the comfort of adults, not the progress of children.